Regent Street, Europe’s first purpose built shopping street (1830), has launched a walking tour App to illustrate an exciting and informative route along Regent Street. Designed by Applied Information Group (AIG) and developed by the Electric Mapping Company, the App can be downloaded from the Apple store for free. An accompanying printed guide can be picked up at some of the Regent Street stores or at regentstreetonline.com.

AIG developed the App using Living Map technology, which provides dynamic street-level mapping. Combined with the GPS technology accessible from the iPhone, this provides accurate and informative pedestrian-friendly wayfinding. The App was commissioned by The Crown Estate and Regent Street.

For a full press release, please click on the link below.

AIG’s Malcolm Garrett is one of 30 artists paying tribute to the work of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll’ illustrator Ray Lowry, with their own interpretations of his iconic sleeve for The Clash’s ‘London Calling’. In an exhibition from 18 June to 4 July 2010 at London’s Idea Generation Gallery, Malcolm’s work sits alongside pieces by Tracey Emin, Nick Hornby, Billy Childish, Mick Jones and . . . Harry Hill. Malcolm's response is a visual expression of the differences and links between the ‘London Calling’ and his own Buzzcocks’ ‘A Different Kind of Tension’ cover, designed in the same year, 1979.

An interactive iPhone app produced by RIBA London and designed and co-sponsored by Applied Information Group celebrates the vision of John Nash – one of London’s most influential town planner architects. The app takes you on an annotated walking tour of the 2km spine between Regent's Park and St James' Park, known as the ‘Nash Ramblas’, which is populated by some of the UK’s foremost historical, cultural and architecturally important landmarks. The app was developed in collaboration with The Royal Parks, English Heritage and The Crown Estates and is free to download from the Apple Store.

Applied Information Group is hosting an Open Studio from 3-6pm on Friday 25 June 2010 as part of the Great Sutton Street Party . Come and look round, hear talks by creative directors Malcolm Garrett and Tim Fendley, then join the evening’s street celebrations with music, food and drink.

Malcolm Garrett RDI – 3pm – Digital and branding projects
Tim Fendley – 4pm – Wayfinding, iPhone and iPad projects
If you plan to attend one of the talks please let us know via: openstudio@aiglondon.com

The street party is a collaboration of the creative businesses in the Great Sutton Street area as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

Legible London, the wayfinding system designed by AIG to help make London a world-class walking city, has won a top honour award at the USA’s Society of Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) Design Awards. Tim collected the award at a ceremony in Washington DC on Thursday, 3 June 2010.

The SEGD is the premier organisation, largely based in North America, that represents the interests of designers, architects and urban designers in the field of environmental graphic design.

The unique Legible London approach clearly had resonance with SEGD’s international jurors. It suggests that Legible cities could provide a model for wayfinding in other world capitals and shows what can be achieved with the close collaboration of designers, city transport authorities and city administrative bodies.

AIG has collaborated with the London offices of Pentagram in the design and production of a new website for Bertazzoni, Italian manufacturers of precision-engineered cooking ranges. The site builds on the branding created by Pentagram when Bertazzoni launched on the American market in 2005. The site's simple and elegant appearance belies its complex and functional ‘back-end’. It is built on a solid open-source framework, which gives it a powerful, flexible and future-proof base to build upon, and unlike a great many luxury brand sites achieves an effective premium feel without the use of Flash. This makes the site perfect to access via all mobile platforms, including the iPad from which many luxury, Flash driven sites are excluded.

‘Futurising’ is mentoring on a grand scale. This two day festival gives creative students and graduates access to experienced professionals who can help them take their first steps into the commercial world. In a ‘How To . . .’ session hosted by digital forum i-Design, AIG’s Malcom Garrett is chairing a panel discussion on how to get started working in interaction design. He is joined by Fred Deakin of Airside, Fred Flade of Poke and Jeremy Leslie of MagCulture. The session is one of seventy-two mentoring events provided by creative organisations, companies and individuals. The i-Design panel discussion takes place on 29 June while the festival runs until 30 June.

Malcolm Garrett and his work will appear in two programmes on BBC2 about Heaven 17's first album, 'Penthouse & Pavement'. The first programme is a live performance of the album in its entirety, the second a documentary about the band and their album. It wasn't ever performed live due to the limitations of equipment available for touring when it was released in 1980. Malcolm's film screens behind the band during their performance of 'Let's All Make A Bomb' and in the second feature he talks about his involvement with Heaven 17, going back to the beginning of the 80s. The two programmes will be aired on May 16th Sunday and 17th Monday.

Tim Fendley is to speak at the Human Cities Symposium in Brussels on the 7th of May. The Symposium consists of two days of conferences and workshops. With almost twenty researchers, urbanists, architects, graphic designers and artists sharing their ways to be present in the city, and the methods they developed to this aim.

Applied Information Group’s Malcolm Garrett, with graphic designer Jane Plüer, has designed a publication to celebrate the work of photographer Peter Anderson called, Then and There, Here and Now. Anderson came to prominence with his music portraits of the ′80s, when he was staff photographer at New Musical Express, and for his more recent ‘Urban Art’, which sells alongside the works of Warhol, Basquiat and Banksy at Bonham’s. The book is linked to an exhibition of the same name at the APT Gallery in Deptford, London until 2 May 2010.

The book, to be published in two parts, is a veritable Who’s Who of the music industry with portraits of Madonna, Iggy Pop, Run DMC, Stone Roses, Lemmy, Lou Reed, Mick Jagger, Marvin Gaye, Paul Weller, Blur’s Damon Albarn, and The Clash’s late Joe Strummer. Many of his subjects who were unknown at the time are now household names. Observer music writer Paul Morley, Anderson’s colleague at NME, has written the introduction.

The publication is the most recent in a three-decade-long collaboration between Malcolm Garrett and Peter Anderson. Their first professional association came with the use of the photographer’s images on the designer’s cover for the Simple Minds single, Sweat in Bullet. Most recently the two have worked together on commercial commissions for Applied Information Group clients Psychosis and Fabric Technologies.

Commenting on their collaboration, Garrett says: ‘From the day we met at i-D, soon after the magazine’s launch in 1980, it was clear that Anderson’s image-making matched my own attitude to graphic design. I like the fact that his approach to making photographs often has a healthy disregard for conventional working methods, which produces spectacularly powerful images’.

Applied Information Group has created the first iPad installation in the UK and the first iPad apps for a hotel. Apple iPads have been brought over from the USA weeks ahead of their UK launch and adapted by AIG for guests staying in seven luxury suites at The Berkeley, the 5-star hotel in Knightsbridge owned by Maybourne Hotel Group. The project is a collaboration with Construct, the boutique design agency that is the brand guardian of The Berkeley as well as sister hotels Claridge’s and The Connaught.

The recent launch of OS OpenData™ was welcomed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee as a step towards making public data public, an initiative on which he has been advising the Government. But exactly how useful is the new free data for producing detailed city maps for the public?

“Many cities are working together with their businesses and stakeholders to improve services and information for their residents and visitors,” says AIG partner Kasper de Graaf. “They want to be able to disseminate good quality information free in all the forms that people want it, which of course includes online and on mobiles. Open Data does break the OS mould by using a simple and open licensing model, but the datasets made available are of limited use when it comes to city centre mapping, so we are still faced with the same issues.”

AIG’s briefing note on OS OpenData™ sets out the situation for those involved in the creation, procurement and dissemination of city maps.

A feature about Bhola’s Children, a charity for orphans and disabled children in Sri Lanka, leads the Spring edition of The London Rotarian which has just been published. Established by Bruna Colombo-Otten, the wife of London Rotarian Walter Otten, the charity brings hope in a region with one of the highest disability rates in the world due to pollution, poor diet and genetic disorders.

An in-depth analysis of the causes and remedies of the current recession is delivered by former Banque de Bruxelles chief economist Jacques Delacave, president of the London Rotary Club three years ago. Other features include a picture special of the ascent of Sudan’s holy mountain Abarkal by the explorer and author Neville Shulman; a call by Sir Sigmund Sternberg to establish a world faith day to foster understanding between the major religions; and a report of the event organised by the London and Pall Mall Rotary Clubs at Marlborough House in February at which Commonwealth secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma spoke in support of Rotary’s $1bn effort to free the world of the scourge of polio.

Edited by Kasper de Graaf and produced by AIG, The London Rotarian is read by industry and community leaders in many countries and is the world’s longest-running Rotarian magazine.

Various media outlets have asked AIG's creative director Malcolm Garrett's opinions on design current affairs. Not intended as a press tour, here are some of the things he said:

On BBC's redesign of their website, Malcolm gave his thoughts to Creative Review, ‘I just think the attitude is right, and have to admit to being an admirer of the BBC’s attention to detail. They're kind of like the Apple of the broadcasting world. Admirable and slightly annoying at the same time.’

On a separate piece for Creative Review, Michael Johnson asked Malcolm his thoughts on the 20th birthday of Photoshop. ‘The important thing about Photoshop is that it is a natural part of the whole move towards a world of photography without film, processing or prints.’

Design Week asked for his opinion on Neville Brody's recent appointment as Head of the Department of Communications Art & Design at the RCA. ‘I think Neville is a great appointment, bringing experience and adventure in equal measure. After a period where the Communication Art component has been a focus at RCA, I'm sure that taking real world design concerns back to the top of the agenda, with a healthy cross-disciplinary approach, will be high on his list of priorities.’

UK's Computer Arts magazine has published a five page article on AIG's creative director Malcolm Garrett's design endeavours. In the magazine's April issue, Malcolm talks about his inspiration from Brian Eno, revival of the '80s aesthetic and AIG's mission statement. Alongside his seminal works, the magazine features the network diagram for AIG's Dublin Bus project with Image Now, which Malcolm led as creative director.

Brighton & Hove's new wayfinding system, designed by Applied Information Group with Lacock Gullam, has been shorlisted for Design Week Awards 2010. This pedestrian-centric wayfinding system, which includes customised 'Seafront Miniliths' and an interactive digital map, was designed to reduce dependence on the car and public transport. Other shortlisted designs this year include the MacBook Pro by Apple, Royal Mail Stamps, British Design Classics and Canal+ Channel branding by Devilfish.

Great debates never go away. magculture.com has dug up an article that dates back to 1991 by AIG's creative director Malcolm Garrett. And every word is still relevant (OK, maybe not the Commodore CDTV bit) and ever more so with the release of the Apple iPad. Using a Mac IIcx and Adobe Illustrator 3.0, Malcolm asks Graphics World, ‘The book is dead?’.

He writes, ‘Tomorrow's generation, whose parents are now children, raised with the computer enhanced world at their finger tips, and less enslaved by the linear logic of the printed word, will use the much talked about but little understood multimedia platform as naturally as the present generation uses the handycam.’

Graphics World later became Grafik.

The Washington Post's current affairs and culture magazine Slate has recently published a series of articles called 'How they tell us where to go'. This series includes fantastic introductory pieces to the practice of wayfinding, covering why it can be important to our everyday lives to why it's not just about designing a revolutionary arrow. Alongside Julia Turner's empirical approach to the wayfinding problems on New York's Penn Station, the writer devotes one article solely to the process and accomplishments of Legible London. Slate Magazine has also invited readers to submit their hand-drawn maps, a concept closely affiliated to the 'Mental Maps' AIG used to develop the Legible London wayfinding scheme, which no doubt will be fascinating to view when revealed later this month.

When the 2010 Winter Olympics kick off this month, Downtown Vancouver will play host to 1.85 million event ticket holders in addition to the thousands of businesses and residents that rely on the city's transport system. To help the regional transport authority TransLink keep things moving, Applied Information Group has created a new identity, station signs and mapping. The initiative is part of AIG's ongoing contract with TransLink to develop a multi-modal wayfinding system for the young, expanding metropolis.

AIG's creative director, Malcolm Garrett RDI gave Creative Review his first impressions on the newly announced Apple iPad. In the article entitled "Why the iPad matters", he notes that the truly interesting aspect of the iPad is in its further exploration of the interface and interaction design from the iPod, rather than the form itself. Hence the logical step of acknowledging the product as a next generation iPod, rather than a downgraded MacBook. Malcolm also stated his expectations of the unpredictable outcomes this device might produce, integrating the accelerometer, GPS and Wi-fi capabilities. To read the full article please click the link below.

The London Rotarian, the world’s longest-running continuously published Rotarian magazine now in its 94th year, has been redesigned by Applied Information Group.

Billed as “Thinking about communities in our city and the world”, the magazine, this time leading with a feature by Fiyaz Mughal about reconciliation between Muslims and Jews. The Rotary Club of London, which celebrates its centenary next year, is well-known for its speaking programme and the magazine trailed visits from Lord Jeffrey Archer, his old rival Ken Livingstone, Royal Institution director Baroness Susan Greenfield, LibDem MP Susan Kramer and Will Hutton.

The new look marks the return to the editor’s chair of AIG’s md Kasper de Graaf, who previously edited The London Rotarian from 2002-07. Published three times a year, it is read by business, political and community leaders not only in London but all over the world and seeks to discuss important London issues with wider resonance. The redesign was led by AIG creative director Tim Fendley, whose Legible London Yellow Book won this year’s Design Week Award, and design director Ben Acornley who was a key member of the team that redesigned The Economist some years ago.

The next issue, due out in April, leads with a contribution to the debate about knife crime from former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

i-Design has made it onto Design Week's annual 'Hot 50' list yet again. An event first organised by Dynamo London, i-Design is an digital interactive design conference held each year during the London Design Festival. Produced by AIG, with New Media Knowledge and Creative:Strategy:Production, the 2009 i-Design was held at the Old Cinema, the UK's oldest cinema, in the University of Westminster on London's Regent Street, and marked the third year of the event. This year creative director Malcolm Garrett brought together a varied programme of acclaimed industry speakers, with panels, installations and films co-hosted by Future of Sound, Cybersonica, 5D and Onedotzero. To read the full article please click on the link below.

segdDESIGN, a quarterly design publication by the Society for Environmental Graphic Design has published an in-depth review of Legible London on their latest edition. Founded in 1973, SEGD is the leading organisation of environmental graphic design in North America. Jenny Reising, a Cincinnati-based design writer, has penned not only the various concepts involved, but also the detailed design developments of the Legible London signs. To read the full article please click on the link below.

Our man Malcolm Garrett talks to 'Life & Style' in The Independent about how, back in 1984, Apple changed his life. He was pipped at the post in the early adopter stakes by journalist Michael Bywaters, who says he also got his first Mac in the mid-eighties but as a gift from Steve Jobs – you get serious points for that.

The Open Futures website designed by Applied Information Group is an important home for the inspiring case studies, and the teacher’s resources that make up the Helen Hamlyn Trust’s practical skills initiative for Primary Schools. The site is the latest progression of AIG’s development of a comprehensive Open Futures identity and communication programme. The identity revolves around a roundel mark constructed from an assortment of quirky icons, each a symbol and a narrative of what the programme offers. The roundel on the website translates into an interactive menu, with each icon a link through to a related point of information. The result is a site that is playfully compelling and enlightening . . . which sums up the Open Futures identity and ethos.

On 29 January 2010 at St Bride’s Library, London, AIG’s Malcolm Garrett takes part in a panel discussion on the legacy of Barney Bubbles, a gifted designer who lived and worked within the practice of music design. Malcolm joins Bubbles’ biographer Paul Gorman, Gerard Saint (Big Active), Kate Moross, and chair John Walters, editor and co-owner of Eye, the international review of graphic design, and a music critic for The Guardian. The discussion is part of a one day conference on music and design. St Bride’s in Fleet Street is the world’s foremost printing and graphic arts library. 

AIG's Tim Fendley is to speak at Cities Revealed Event 2010, a two day educational event for users of geographic information. Hosted by the GeoInformation Group on 27 and 28 January, this event marks its tenth anniversary this year. With keynote and guest speakers including David Rhind, former Director General of Ordnance Survey and Ed Parsons, the Geospatial Technologist of Google, this event carries out a wealth of discussions and workshops from thermal imaging to GIS mash-ups. Tim is to present the formulation and the methodologies of Legible London on 28 January. The venue is Madingley Hall, Cambridge and booking information can be found on the web link below.

On 12 January 2010, AIG's Creative Director Tim Fendley is speaking at CILIP. Members of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, or CILIP, have invited Tim to discuss the principles and developments of Legible London as well his experience on recent information system projects in cities such as Brighton and Bristol. The venue is Sekforde Arms located at EC1, London. The talk starts at 6:30pm with Q&A session to follow. Admission is free.